F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.38 (20-Sep-1993) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | | | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: | | _ | | | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS | | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: | | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) | | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 2 2. Articles...................................................... 2 Clarification of Maximus Y)ell Problem...................... 2 The Hypothetical Hypocritical Hypochondriac SysOp........... 5 Shawn McMahon............................................... 6 MAIL FROM TOM JENNINGS...................................... 7 Splitting Area Codes........................................ 8 Info-ZIP utility - a .ZIP alternative....................... 12 EPubNet - Electronic Publishing Pioneers.................... 14 "The Fight for Privacy: The Govt. Raises the Stakes"........ 15 "ZIP Archivers Update"...................................... 20 The Joy of FidoNet!......................................... 20 Replies to FidoNews 10-36................................... 20 (The Innocents)............................................. 22 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 22 FidoNews 10-38 Page: 2 20 Sep 1993 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== First, a short note of apology to Mr. Scott Dudley. Scott points off a system that feeds from us, so there was no excuse for us not forwarding last week's article to him ... he should have FIRST heard of the problem through mail, not the snooze. The article in question, however, has a couple of other things that should be brought up. Normally, if we received an article that told how to crash a BBS, we would not print it until after the author had a fix out. In this case, however, I received the notes on the problem from three separate sources. One of those was a local BBS which had been crashed, and one was through an international file echo. Since the problem had been so widely announced, I felt that widely announcing the solution was in order. There was, however, no excuse for not forwarding a copy to Scott. On other fronts, articles are starting to trickle in regarding E-zines. Several are included in this week's issue. We expect several more over the next few weeks, and are also amassing a collection of general information on the subject. Perhaps a special issue on e-pubs is in order? Please send MORE MAIL, this is great. ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Clarification of Maximus Y)ell Problem Scott Dudley 1:249/106 Recently, a message was posted in various echoes (and in FidoNews, SOFTDIST, alt.ranting.and.raving, etc.) regarding a problem with the Y)ell command under a stock Maximus 2.0/DOS system. Some parts of the post were correct, but some other parts were incorrect as well, so I would like to clarify a few points. The stated cause and effect are correct, but the explanation for "why" makes the problem sound bigger than it really should be. In short, to fix the problem, change the YELLREQ.MEC line to remove the "%J" and make it read "User yelled for the sysop". For those who are interested in a longer description of the problem, read on. The following quotes are from the original "the sky is falling" post: >+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+- FidoNews 10-38 Page: 3 20 Sep 1993 >WARNING TO ALL MAXIMUS SYSOPS! READ THIS! VERY IMPORTANT >+-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+- >There is a very easy way for a user to crash your Max board it >was brought to my attention by Ming Ho (1:250/526). One a >couple of occasions, a Maximus board known as "The OH! Zone" >(non-Fido B) was crashed by the user issuing the following >commands; first, they would use the yell option, and then for >the reason, they put: > %16,%f,e.t.c Up to here, the message is correct. Max will have problems if the user enters the string "%f" as part of a yell request. >Although the "e.t.c" part more than likely means nothing, the >"%" means a lot to Dos. I have thoroughly tested this on my >system. It *does* work. There is a simple solution for it >however (which I've also tested). [...] >The reason you do this is because if you don't, there will be an >FPU error. Much like as in a programming language, Dos cannot >store the wrong data-type in a wrongfully declared memory >region. It has no 'type-caste' precautions built-in to it and >consequently doesn't know how to handle a statement such as >above, i.e. the reason it's crashing is because the user is >making an illegal call to the memory regions of the machine-- >this is why the system crashes, and you *must* hard-boot it! This is not true. The exact cause of the problem is as follows: After the user enters a request containing a "%f", the [log] MECCA token passes this string to the function that adds a line to the Max log file. (The token "%J" is replaced by the string entered by the user, and if that string happens to include a %f, the problem will appear.) As part of the logfile processing, the log() function calls printf() on the string entered by the user. This was my mistake, since the printf function uses the "%" character as a special sequence for embedding user-specified text in the output string. The "%" should have been automatically escaped before being passed to the log function; this will be done in future versions of Maximus. However, this would normally not be a problem. Although no specific arguments were specified for that user-defined text, the printf function would have simply read (NOT write) garbage arguments from the stack. This would cause a bit of garble to appear on the screen, but other than that, it would be harmless. However, the reason that this causes a problem is that the "%f" command tells Maximus to display a floating-point number. To support floating point, C applications need to be linked with a FidoNews 10-38 Page: 4 20 Sep 1993 special library which provides that support. Max does not need to use floating point numbers, so that support was not included. Consequently, when the format string was interpreted by the printf function, it realized that floating point was not supported, so it printed an appropriate error message. After displaying that message, the printf function terminates the program abnormally. Again, this would not normally be of concern, except for one problem: When Max starts up, it hooks a couple of interrupt vectors corresponding to the keyboard handler. When Max terminates normally, these vectors are set back to their original values, as they existed before Max was started. However, when Max is terminated abnormally, it does not get a chance to restore these vectors. This means that, after Max ends and another program is loaded, these vectors will be pointing into some random piece of code in the other program. This causes a system crash the next time that one of these interrupts are executed. Other than removing the "%J" in the yellreq.mec file, another way to solve the problem is to use "MARK" and "RELEASE" around max.exe. As long as MARK is run just before max.exe is called, and as long as RELEASE is called IMMEDIATELY after max.exe has terminated, your system should not crash. The floating-point-not-loaded error will still be displayed, but the system should keep on running. This is because the crash problem is caused directly by the aforementioned problem in Max's interrupt vector management, not indirectly by the string entered by the user. The problem does not have anything to do with DOS, type-casting, or the user making an illegal call to portions of the machine. The problem does not allow any users to access anything that they should not be able to access, so it is not a security problem. However, it is a bug which can cause your system to crash when the "magic string" is entered. This problem only applies to Max-DOS. Although the user can cause a copy of Max-OS/2 to terminate abnormally, since OS/2 does not allow the application to modify interrupt vectors, Max-OS/2 will simply recycle instead of causing a system crash. This does not cause much of a problem, other than the fact that it will automatically hang up on the user when it does so. Please address any concerns about this problem to me by DIRECT NETMAIL, which is where the problem should have been reported to begin with. Although it is normally a good thing to distribute the fix for a problem as widely as possible, I am slightly disappointed that the cause of the problem was advertised all across the world, without any attempt to contact the author! FidoNews 10-38 Page: 5 20 Sep 1993 Even then, advertising the method used to crash the system did nothing but create unnecessary problems. Scott Dudley (Maximus author) 1:249/106 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hypothetical Hypocritical Hypochondriac SysOp The saga continues........... by George Dorn Please note that the story that follows is pure fiction, and any similarity between the persons described and any persons who are currently or have in the past breathed the mixture of gases that we generally refer to as the atmosphere of the planet Earth are purely coincidental. The person described herein may be considered a cowardly, hypocritical, hypochondriac, unfit for membership of the human race. If any particular SysOp thinks the story applies to them in some way, well maybe they're paranoid as well. They could also be right ;-) Is mental instability a basis for removal of a SysOp I wonder? Once upon a time, there was a SysOp out in FidoLand, who developed a secondary hobby. Communication, via electronic means was deemed to be so powerful that it could be used for the imposition of one's own moral standard upon others and if this were not succesful then reticent offenders could be brought to the attention of the authorities. All the tools were in place, A computer, terminal emulator and modem were all that were needed. Oh, almost forgot, a total lack of a sense of morality as well as total ignorance of one's own cowardice were also needed, but these are easy to come by in certain parts of our beloved region 25. So, armed with a handful of aliases, a vindictive attitude and an acute sense of superiority, our hero sets out upon his quest. Every day, he calls BBSs around the country, logs on and attempts to extract as much information as possible about suspected wrong-doings, wrong-doings in his (warped) mind that is. If anything, ANYTHING boys and girls, even remotely tastes of sexual activity then the log files are duly shipped off to the local constabulary (police for our American brethren), under an assumed name, of course. Our hero is never about to do anything under his real name, this would imply taking responsibility and this is to be avoided at all costs. If this hobby were not enough to keep our intrepid hero happy, he has another. Not satisfied with dragging his fellow hobbyists into disrepute with his BBS activities (his behaviour is widely known in the UK) he has lately taken to writing accusatory articles, attacking SysOps in other countries, in FidoNews 10-38 Page: 6 20 Sep 1993 FidoNews. For this he has either been anonymous or has used one of his favourite psuedonyms. If you come across this poor excuse for a human being, in your BBS, then take EXTRA care, the slime of humanity could be after your blood. Names he has used in various BBSs around the UK as well as in FidoNet articles are Rob Austin Andy Brimson Charles Wilberforce Jim/James Weir or Skittle Mike Eoman / Goman Richard Perkins Stuart Green George Dorn No doubt some of you wil recognise some of the above names. God! One of them is even mine! So, the moral of this story is simple, and is there for all to see, do not be fooled boys and girls, there really are arseholes around. For further information, Paul Dickie may be contacted by NetMail on 2:256/62 George Dorn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shawn McMahon 1:206/1701.666 This is an open letter of apology to the Fidonews Editors. You are indeed correct that your netmail didn't get to me; I'll be referring my bossnode to your note in the 'news. You are also correct that my articles didn't meet ARTSPEC.DOC. I have just FREQed a new copy and refamiliarized myself with it. However, you are not correct that the problem was the tables; every line in that table was under 72 characters. In fact, they were all under 70. The individual text lines were over 72, and I'd named the article with a .TXT extension instead of the proper .ART. I just wanted to clear that up. Thanks for the great job you've been doing. See ya on the net... FidoNews 10-38 Page: 7 20 Sep 1993 MAIL FROM TOM JENNINGS > What is the rainbow crowd? The Rainbow Family is a giant (10,000+) nomadic cultural thing in North America. They look more or less like "hippies". You don't see to much of them usually. They are genuinely nomadic, and hold various Gatherings, usually a big annual one. Each year in a different US state. About 10,000 people show up, sometimes less. They take advantage of US Federal homesteading laws, much to the chagrin of authorities. Gatherings are free, and everyone pitches in -- or not. They don't worry about it. There are communal meals (pretty minimal though, poverty is an assumption so far in the background it's startling) made up of donated/liberated/dumpster-dived food. They are not necesseraily vegetarians. They have no or barter or minimal economy. I have an ex-roommate who is a Rainbow person now. They are definitely way far outside the usual channels. They're quite serious. They tend to be vehicle-people, white, babies'n'dogs. They disdain alcohol, smoke lots of pot. Usually quite trsutworthy. They are dirty. Their methodology for gatherings is unique. They have a "welcome committee" up where vehicles come in, who tell you where things are, where to park, etc. They also scope people out; if they have alcohol -- generally the only thing forbidden besides firearms -- instead of a lecture or whatever, they say "got any alcohol? Let's drink it! Here's some of my pot!" and try to get the owner to consume it on the spot. Usually works. Two years back, in Nevada, the Great Circle gave Welcome Committee duty to the Faerie camp (the gay/lez bunch within the Family) because they did an excellent job of (1) defusing a bunch of asshole bigots with fun instead of anger and (2) "took over" a small stage devolving into bland ordinary faux hippy folksy music and turned it into a big open party. It was a great honor, apparently. Too much hippy for me, though the gatherings are definitly worth checking out. They are always the first week in July. A Council of oldtimers (which apparently anyone can attend and provide input, listened to or not I know not) picks the next years site, many months in advance. A few months before, a seed group goes to the site, and chooses a location distractingly near the real site. This draws fire from the locals and authorities, if any trouble arises, and keeps eyes of the actual site. They usually rent an apt or something an have a stable mail address. Word is spread mouth to mouth and hand to hand. No advertising of any sort is generally done, and as far as I can tell, is frowned upon. They deal with legal issues (more and more every year I guess) and all that. About a month before the actual event, another seed group populates the site and starts to prepare it. In Nevada, it took place partly on private land; the worked out a deal with the owner that they would leave it utterly spotless and would install a water system based upon a FidoNews 10-38 Page: 8 20 Sep 1993 water-hammer ("free" water pump power). I can attest to the cleanliness thing. In nevada, I was there and left early, so there were only a few thousand people. It was *spotless*. On a mian trail, someone had dropped about a half-dozen cellophane candy wrappers. It was a Big Deal. It was an issue at the Great Circle, and instead of castigation and finger pointing (they the do all this stuff internally of course, at big gatherings they tend to be fairly cool cuz there's fresh faces and fresh energy) they went on about how important it was they left the place clean. Seems to work. It's a retty cool thing, iff you like hippies, eating oatmeal as your main source of nutrition, walking 6 hours into the woods, carrying water, being asked to eat food just cooked as you walk down a trail, LSD, get really dirty, dig shitters, keep damnfools from shitting in the stream, etc etc. There are some christian hippies. There are more queer ones. I hate tie-dye, and mistrust peace and loveism. I own guns and like computers. Oh well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Splitting Area Codes Spltting Area Codes by David Leibold 1:250/730 Starting 4 October 1993, Bell Canada will split the area code 416 in the Toronto region into two area codes: numbers in Metropolitan Toronto only will retain the 416 area code, while previous 416 area code numbers outside Toronto will have their area code changed to 905. There will be a six month period in which the 416 area code will continue to operate as before, but with the new 905 area code in operation. After 25 March 1994, 416 will no longer be valid for phone numbers outside Metropolitan Toronto and the split will be complete. Area code splits such as this have been all the rage in North America in recent years, adding a challenge to keeping the Fidonet nodelist up-to-date. The North American Numbering Plan (NANP), as the format of area codes and telephone numbers is known, was quite stable until the 1980s when a splitting spree began. A list of recent and upcoming area code splits in North America can be found at the end of this article. Why split an area code? To understand what prompts the formation of new area codes, telephone numbers in North America consist of a seven digit local number in a three digit area code (formally known as a Numbering Plan Area or NPA), such as (416) 555.2368. The first three digits of a local number are called a prefix, exchange or central office (CO) code (the term "CO code" will be used for this article). A finite number of CO codes can be assigned to each area code, theoretically 800 maximum (8 * 10 * 10, given that the first digit cannot be 0 or 1, due to their use for operator, long distance, etc). Since codes like 911 and FidoNews 10-38 Page: 9 20 Sep 1993 411 are used for special services, the maximum will be less than 800. When nearly all of the available CO codes are in use in an area code, the only way to expand numbering capacity is to create a new area code (ie. split the area code). Who assigns area codes? The assignment of area codes in the NANP is the responsibility of New Jersey-based Bell Communications Research (Bellcore), jointly owned by the U.S. Bell Operating Companies (e.g. Ameritech, NYNEX, Pacific Bell). Bellcore's role as NANP Administrator resulted from the divestiture of AT&T in the early 1980s. Recent reports indicate that Bellcore wants to abandon responsibility for maintaining the area codes and other aspects of the NANP within the next 18 months; at the moment it is unclear how the NANP will be maintained if this occurs. The original telephone numbering format... Area codes have 0 or 1 as the middle digit (416, 905, 212, 809, etc). Originally, this allowed telephone company equipment to distinguish area codes from CO codes. That meant calls within an area code could be dialed using just the seven digit number and calls placed to other area codes were dialed as 1 + area code + number. New CO codes needed... In July 1973, Los Angeles (area code 213) allowed CO codes with 0 or 1 as the middle digit, increasing the number of CO codes that could be assigned within 213 area, and forestalling an area code split. Other area codes were set up with this format where extra capacity was needed. When these "interchangeable" CO codes were introduced, dialing changes were needed to reflect the loss of distinction between area codes and CO codes. In some cases, 1+ indicated a call outside the area code, while all calls within the area code were seven digits (without 1+). In others, long distance within an area code was changed to require 1+area code on all calls including those within the area code. New *area* codes needed... With all the splits, there would eventually be no more area codes available under the current format. Starting January 1995, the NANP format will allow for digits other than 0 or 1 in the middle of an area code. The distinction between and area code and a CO code will be lost throughout North America at that time. Dialing changes will be made in all area codes except those that have the interchangeable CO codes. The changes to dialing will depend on the particular phone company. The first of the "interchangeable" area codes is reported to be 334, to split Alabama's current 205 area code. 10 digit local calling... In the 416/905 split, local calls across the 416/905 boundary will have to be dialed as ten digits. That is, calls from Toronto to local points in 905 will be dialed as 905+number, and calls from 905 to local points in 416 will be dialed as 416+number. There is FidoNews 10-38 Page: 10 20 Sep 1993 no 1+ dialed before local numbers; just a new ten digit local calling format. Bellcore published a document on the future of the NANP recommending that ten digit local dialing be made the norm everywhere. In fact, there is even a recommendation to remove 1+ as a toll indicator, so that all calls, whether local or long distance, are dialed as ten digits. This is not an official rule at present, and this plan has certain advantages (a common dialing method for North America for any NANP call) and certain controversies (consumer acceptance of ten digits, complications in determining whether a call is toll or local, dialing errors may incur more risks, etc.). The document mentioned above is called "North American Numbering Plan Administrator's Proposal on the Future of Numbering in WZ1 - Second Edition", letter IL-93/01-008. [The WZ1 means World Zone 1, or NANP]. Write NANP Administration, Bellcore, 290 West Mt Pleasant Avenue, Livingston NJ USA 07039; This was available for free, as an openly-distributed industry proposal. Internationally... North America is not the only place having numbering plan overhauls. The following is list (not a complete one) of numbering changes in other countries. London, UK also had a recent area code split of its own, replacing the area code 1 with two new codes 71 (inner London) and 81 (outer London). This is nothing compared to the changes proposed in April 1995 where almost all geographic area codes will have the digit 1 added at the beginning. That means London's 71 and 81 codes will become 171 and 181, while Birmingham's 21 becomes 121. (Within the UK, long distance would be dialed with the 0 in front, as 071, 081, 021; the area codes are listed as they would be used to call the UK from other countries). Australia will be changing its area codes in the next few years and converting to a new numbering plan. New Zealand already has in place a new numbering system with single digit area codes and seven digit numbers. Even Eastern Europe is changing its numbering plans: - Last November, Romania overhauled its numbering plan so that Bucharest's area code 0 was changed to 1, and all other area codes had the digit 9 prepended to them. - Country codes are also split to reflect the breakup of nations: Yugoslavia was country code 38, but as of 1 October 1993 it will be split into 381 Serbia and Montenegro, 385 Croatia, 386 Slovenia, 387 Bosnia and 389 Macedonia. - Some of the former Soviet nations are already operating under new country codes. In Germany's case, the old East Germany country code 37 was taken out of service and country code 49 now serves all of Germany. Implications for Fidonet... FidoNews 10-38 Page: 11 20 Sep 1993 Fidonet sysops should be aware of any upcoming changes to local or long distance dialing methods and adjust their dialing strings, config files, etc accordingly. When area codes change, the phone company usually has a grace period where the old area codes co-exist with the new. There is no need to rush with nodelist area code changes; remember that phone companies in other areas, even other countries, may not be ready for a new area code right away. This should not prevent sysops from testing new dialing methods in their own territories; the prime responsibility for keeping nodelist phone numbers current would seem to rest with the regional nets in any case. Announcement of area code or country code changes could be made through the Fidonews or other official Fidonet channels. This would help sysops keep dialing and cost tables current. List of area code splits... Carl Moore (Internet cmoore@BRL.MIL) maintains a history of area code splits and other changes to the dialing plan in the NANP. Those with access to Internet FTP capabilities may obtain the full list from the site lcs.mit.edu, go to the "telecom-archives" directory, then the get the "history.of.area.splits" file. On Fidonet, this can be F'reqd from 1:250/730, file name ACSPLIT.TXT. The most recent version is dated 28 July 1993. The following is an excerpt from that list for the area code splits announced or in effect since January 1992: 212/718/917 New York, 1 Jan 1992 (917, to be overlaid on 212 & 718, is to be used for cellular & pagers) 404/706 Georgia, 3 May 1992 (full cutover 3 Aug 1992) 512/210 Texas, 1 Nov 1992 (full cutover 1 May 1993) 714/909 California, 14 Nov 1992 (full cutover 14 Aug 1993) (Riverside and San Bernardino counties go into 909; Orange County remains in 714) 416/905 Ontario, 4 Oct 1993 (full cutover Mar 1994, postponed from 10 Jan 1994) 919/910 North Carolina, 14 Nov 1993 (full cutover 13 Feb 1994) 313/810 Michigan, 1 Dec 1993 (full cutover 10 Aug 1994) 215/610 Pennsylvania, 1994 205/334 Alabama, 1995 (the first NNX area code to be announced, on July 22, 1993) Finally.... Acknowledgements are due to: Bellcore, Carl Moore (cmoore@brl.mil), Telecom Digest/comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup, Thomas Diessel (diessel@informatik.unibw-muenchen.de) for Yugoslavia information. By way of blatant plug, Fidonet does have a telecom echo called MDF. Those interested in telephone system discussions might wish to pick this up (it should be available on the backbone). The FCC echo also had some numbering plan discussions recently. FidoNews 10-38 Page: 12 20 Sep 1993 For another plug, there are files of the CO codes involved in the 416/905 split. NEW416.LST and NEW905.LST represent the exchanges in 416 and 905 area codes as split and may be file requested from 1:250/730. These files are not mandatory for sysops since the nodelists will reflect the splitting area codes anyway; they are made available for those interested. Hopefully this article will provide some information about the changes to occur and spark some discussion and readiness on the part of sysops. Comments and further discussion are encouraged. # # # David Leibold Fidonet: 1:250/730 Internet: dleibold1@attmail.com or djcl@io.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Info-ZIP utility - a .ZIP alternative Info-ZIP Introduced by David Leibold 1:250/730 The .ZIP format for file archive/compression appears to be the most prevalent form of compression in Fidonet. The Info-ZIP project seeks to provide .ZIP compression for many types of computers. The programs and source code developed under the Info-ZIP banner are also free to use and distribute for non-profit purposes. The work on Info-ZIP occurs on Internet. Perhaps a similar support and development effort should be started on Fidonet, and/or set up the Internet Info-Zip discussions as gatewayed echoes. Support and distribution of Info-ZIP can alleviate concerns about .ZIP programs being primarily shareware. Info-ZIP's new program release is described below, as announced on an Info-ZIP mailing list. Note that the files are available through the Internet; they are not available on my node (1:250/730) at this time. Those with direct Internet access may get the files as described below. Inquiries may be made Internet e-mail to Hunter Goatley (goathunter@WKUVX1.BITNET). . . . . . . . . . . . X-ListName: Info-ZIP Announcements Errors-To: goathunter@WKUVX1.BITNET Sender: goathunter%WKUVX1.bitnet@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU Message-ID: <9309141649.AA22241@octave.chorus.fr> To: Keith Petersen , Timo Salmi , Ari Hovila , pc-up@uwasa.fi, FidoNews 10-38 Page: 13 20 Sep 1993 Info-Zip-Announce%WKUVX1.bitnet@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU CC: zip-bugs%wkuvx1.bitnet@ukcc.uky.edu Subject: Info-zip zip 2.0 is available Date: Tue, 14 Sep 93 18:49:47 +0200 From: Jean-loup Gailly Reply-To: Info-ZIP%WKUVX1.bitnet@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU The Info-zip group has released zip version 2.0. Zip 2.0 is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip called unzip (of course) which you should be able to find at the same place as zip. Unzip 5.0p1 was released on 12 January 1993 and can extract zip files created by zip 2.0. This version of zip has been ported to a wide array of Unix and other systems including VMS, OS/2, TOPS20, Minix, MSDOS, Windows NT, Atari and Amiga. Main changes since zip 1.9p1: - new -i option (include only the following names). - new -T option to test zip file integrity before overwriting original - new -F and -FF (zipfix) options - new -D option (do not create entries for directories) - new -S option to include hidden/system files on MSDOS and OS/2 - new -$ option to include a volume label on MSDOS and OS/2 - new -ll option for CR LF to LF translation - new -p option for zipsplit (pause between diskettes) - speed up for the fast options (-1 to -3) - support for new systems (Amiga, TOPS 20, Human68k, ...) - many portability improvements - many bug fixes The following files are available. Some ftp sites may not have the executables for all systems. See the file Where in zip20.zip or zip20x.zip for details on ftp sites. Sources for all systems (first column is the size in bytes): 245012 zip20.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 sources (no crypt support) 17077 zcrypt20.zip Crypt sources for zip 2.0 and unzip 5.0p1 MSDOS executables: 176302 zip20x.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 MSDOS exe (no crypt) 155668 zcryp20x.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 MSDOS exe (with crypt) VMS (Vax and AXP) executables: 195590 zip20x-vms.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 VMS exe, VAX & AXP OS/2 executables: 119533 zip20x32.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 OS/2 32-bit exe (no crypt) FidoNews 10-38 Page: 14 20 Sep 1993 148267 zip20c32.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 OS/2 32-bit exe (with crypt) 106085 zip20x16.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 OS/2 16-bit exe (no crypt) 129689 zip20c16.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 OS/2 16-bit exe (with crypt) Amiga executables: 131913 zip20x.lha Info-zip zip 2.0 Amiga executables 130234 zip20x.zip Info-zip zip 2.0 Amiga executables Important note: The encryption code was written in Europe and can be freely distributed from any country except the U.S.A. People outside the U.S.A must get the encryption sources and executables from a European site such as ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de:/pub/comp/os/os2/archiver or garbo.uwasa.fi or ftp.win.tue.nl:/pub/compression/zip. Send problem reports to zip-bugs@wkuvx1.bitnet or zip-bugs%wkuvx1.bitnet@ukcc.uky.edu. The info-zip group, zip-bugs@wkuvx1.bitnet ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EPubNet - Electronic Publishing Pioneers by Dave Bealer (1:261/1129) As mentioned in last week's FidoNews, I have been publishing an electronic magazine for a whole year now. When starting Random Access Humor I was on my own; the only electronic publications I had been exposed to were FidoNews and ModemNews Magazine. Both these publications had their influences on my work, although RAH stands alone as a unique publication. As time went by I became aware of other electronic publications such as Ruby's Pearls, an "Elec-mag" specializing in short fiction. But I was still not aware of how many people around the world were laboring over their own electronic publications. I worked alone on RAH for about five months before being invited to join the Electronic Publishing Network (EPubNet). EPubNet is a group of sysops who use their FidoNet node numbers to exchange message and file echoes on many topics involving electronic publishing (epub). EPubNet message echo topics include: Publishing electronically; Writing for Epubs; Running an Electronic Bookstore; Electronic authoring tools/readers. EPubNet file echoes (which reside on the Filebone) include such areas as: electronic magazines; electronic books; electronic texts (including Project Gutenberg etexts), and electronic authoring tools/readers. EPubNet users can communicate directly with some of the leaders of the budding epub industry, including the editors of e-mags and the authors of publishing tools such as the Readroom BBS Door. FidoNews 10-38 Page: 15 20 Sep 1993 Those interested in epub can obtain the EPubNet information file (EPUBINFO.ARJ) from the following hub systems: SYSOP LOCATION NODE NUMBER SPEED ZONE 1 Tom Almy Tigard, OR 1:105/290 14400 v.32bis Dave Bealer Pasadena, MD 1:261/1129 14400 v.32bis 16800 HST Mike Taylor Philadelphia, PA 1:273/937 9600 v.32 14400 HST N.L. Hargrove Los Lunas, NM 1:317/100 9600 v.32 1:317/317 16800 HST John Mudge Shelton, WA 1:352/111 14400 v.32bis ZONE 2 Franck Arnaud Paris, France 2:320/100 14400 v.32bis Henk Ellermann Heerlen, Holland 2:512/62 14400 v.32bis (Sysops can FREQ the info file by name or by the "magic name" of EPUBINFO from any of the above sites) Although not generally recognized by the mainstream publishing industry, epub has the potential to become the hot small press phenomenon of the 90's. Catch the epub wave while it's still in the "working out of the garage" phase. Once epub hits the "working out of the board room" phase, it will be too late. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Fight for Privacy: The Govt. Raises the Stakes" Stanton McCandlish, NitV DataCenter 1:301/2 (until Sept. 20) mech@eff.org [Apologies for the length of this piece. However the issues, to US nodes at least, are far more important than preliminary backbone policies or griping about nodelist flags.] The Clipper fiasco has just escalated. A lot. Our "representatives" in the Casa Blanca and on the hill have shown their true colours. A bit of background for the few who don't know about this yet: In a "proposal" this summer, Clinton announced the creation of the Clipper/Capstone/Skipjack "encryption" "standard". This scheme uses a secret algorithm, for both voice and data encryption in all applications, which has not been reviewed for security publicly by cryptography experts. There is no doubt in the mind of the vast majority of such professionals that Clipper is intentionally weak and has built in "backdoors", in addition to the publicly- announced backdoor: Key escrow. This procedure places half of YOUR cryptographic key in the hands of one "escrow agency", and half in another, so that "law enforcement agencies" (not to metion any cracker worth the title) can get their hands on the keys to YOUR FidoNews 10-38 Page: 16 20 Sep 1993 privacy, wire tap you at will, and read all of your files, regardless if you have not been convicted of a crime, or even charged. And not just the relevant material. ANYTHING you have EVER used this "encryption" on will be like a book for the SS and police to leaf through at will. "What do I care?" Believe me, you will care. In less than 5 years it is expected that most telephones and modems, and a great deal of the software we use every day, will have built in encryption. It is almost inevitable, as this country's industries lose BILLIONS every year to industrial espionage. This totalitarian move by Big Bro will set the most horrifying precedent for government invasion of privacy this country has ever seen. And do not be fooled by any rhetoric from the government about Clipper being "voluntary". Ostensibly the purpose of the Clipper chip is to catch "drug dealers, terrorists, and child pronographers" (Of course. I mean we ALL know these evil minions of Satan himself are lurking on every street corner, and we all know they are STUPID enough to use "cryptography" that they know is compromised, with the cops listening it. Puh-leeeze. And the Reds are coming too, and there really IS a Santa Claus.) The ONLY way the Privacy- Clipper could be even imagined to be effective is if ALL OTHER CRYPTOGRAPHY IS BANNED. Yes that's right. And we all can see QUITE clearly that the real purpose of these chips is to spy upon the American populace. Another dire result of this action, should it become law, is that it will utterly destroy the cryptography industry in this country, literally throwing away many people's jobs. Europe is already in the lead in cryptographic applications, unhampered by ludicrous export regulations that classify privacy software as dangerous "munitions", putting crypto under the purview of our beloved BATF. And we all know how much they wish to "serve and protect" by burning women and children to death for failing to bow down for the bootheel. In addition, ALL US industries will suffer staggering losses, as Japanese, Indian, European, Korean industrial spies steal our technology, again and again and again. Oh, don't get me wrong, someone will benefit. AT&T is supporting the Clipper scheme, since they have an exclusive license to make Clipper phones. Yes, the faceless corporate monster that charges you ten times what telephone service should cost, that colludes with "law enforcement" to tap the phones of anyone they care to tap, are to be entrusted with YOUR privacy and rights. PKP/RSADSI (Public Key Partners/RSA Data Security, Inc., more commonly known as PKP or RSA) will also benefit. Their allies in the government have allowed them to claim algorithm patents on almost all cryptography applications. Yep you heard right. The government has granted OWNERSHIP of PROPERTIES OF MATHEMATICS, POSSESSION of NATURAL PROCESSES OF THE UNIVERSE. What next? Will GE be handed a deed to sunlight? Perhaps I should apply for a copyright on the laws of physics? This ludicrous and reprehensible action has resulted in PKP/RSI gaining an almost complete monopoly on crytographic applications in the US. I my self have received legal threats (you are welcome to a copy if you like) from RSA for daring to use non-RSA freeware cryptography software. FidoNews 10-38 Page: 17 20 Sep 1993 Recently, NIST, yet another government four-letter-agency, and more or less a branch of the NSA, has attempted to grant RSA an EXCLUSIVE license to government cryptography standards such as DSA and DSS. This crypto was developed with YOUR tax money, and is now to be given to a private company to SELL back to you. Do you like paying for things twice? Do you like to see monopolies conspiring with the federal government to rape your privacy? This action is in blatant violation of federal law, as are NSA's refusals, even in the face of repeated direct court orders, to yield up information, as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) about Clipper and other privacy matters (such as their involvement with the FBI's "Digital Telephony" wiretap bill, which aimed to cripple all future communications technology and hamper development to the point of uselessness, to ensure that it will always be as easy to spy on peasants like you and me as it is now.) The actions of organizations like the ACLU and EFF, and individuals like YOU, defeated the FBI scheme, repeatedly. It can also stomp the NIST/PKP scandal, and the Clipper scheme in its entirety, but only if you act NOW. Do something about this immediately, or your children and grandchildren, perhaps even you yourself, will live in a world far less pleasant than that envisioned by George Orwell. This is NOT a joke, it will NOT go away, wasting your time watching Cheers reruns will NOT protect YOUR rights. This is a war. It is bloodless, and behind the scenes, but it is no less a battle than the American Revolution, and the reasons are almost identical. Are you angry? You should be. Read on. As of this writing, the US government has announced who it has chosen to be the "key escrow agents" for the Clipper scheme (and please note that NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY got to vote on this matter -- if you really believe you still live in a democracy, you have been lied to). Early on in the "game", the govt. assured all who were concerned that the key escrow agents (nevermind that the vast majority of people who were "allowed" to "comment" on the matter, and whose demands were utterly ignored by our sneering "representatives", decided that no escrow was needed, because no damned crippled crypto from the SuperSpook spy house would be tolerated) would be private companies with no connections to the govt., so the populace could be assured that corrupt "law enforcement" and "anti-terrorist" agents would not misuse the keys to our privacy. Did this happen? Of course not. The White House has announced that one of the escrow agents is to be NIST itself, who have a vested (and conflict of) interest in at once devising and spreading insecure communications encryption to make it easy for their Big Brothers, NSA, CIA, FBI, and SS, spy upon us, while also proposing to protect our rights and privacy from just such voyeurism. And the other escrow agent? Try an "unspecified" sub-agency of the Treasury department. Yes, that's right. The people that brought you the Prohibition, the Waco Massacre, the outright theft of anything brought into this country that they do not approve of, the robbing and destruction of publishers and BBSs all over the country, and (imagine that) legal threats and harrassment of people daring to use non-crippled, private cryptography for their own uses. How is all this possible? Keep in mind that the Treasury controls: The Secret Service. Responsible for the (by now infamous) Steve FidoNews 10-38 Page: 18 20 Sep 1993 Jackson Games case, and the dreaded and sickening Operation Sundevil, resulting in the destruction of several BBSs, and lives, in the cause of charging people with the "theft" of a telco document which, in a blatant and perjurous lie, was valued at over a hundred thousand dollars, but which ANY person in this country can buy directly from the phone company for under TWENTY dollars. Perhaps the SS should stick to what it does best: catching bullets for the Prez. Then again, remembering Kennedy, perhaps they can't even do THAT competently. The SJG case resulted in a resounding court victory against the SS, and it's not over yet. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Surely a great combination, especially coupled with our corrupt Treasury. Responsible for a variety of atrocities, but most notably the Waco Massacre, in which about 80 US citizens were denied their right to bear arms, and their right to freedom of religion. They were burned to death, men, women, and children, while the BATF told blatant and obvious lies to the media and to YOU. The Customs Department. The agency directly responsible for enforcing "export restrictions" on cryptography, in defiance of all logic and basic common sense. Encryption packages, unless Govt. Approved (TM), even if MADE OUTSIDE THE US AND IMPORTED, cannot be exported, lest The Evil Bad Guys (R) get ahold of it. Nevermind the simple and inescable fact that in most cases they WROTE it in the first place. Almost simultaneous with the announcement of the escrow agents, was the issuing of several subpoenas by US Customs, to haul in people using PGP encryption, even those LICENSED by the "patent" holder, our friendly RSA, to do so. SO, yes the ante has just been upped. But they are bluffing. The American people have a royal flush. It's called the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. WE have the right, the DUTY, to ensure that our government serves us, not the other way around. The govt. exists because we allow it to, and it answers to us. It will answer to us, and to YOU, so DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW. Don't take a nap, don't watch Oprah, don't have lunch, don't go out dancing. Sit down RIGHT NOW, if you care for your rights at all, and draft a short note to your congresspersons, your president, and all of the local newsmedia. If you don't feel up to this, or would simply like more information before deciding that YOU are responsible for YOUR rights, and no one will defend them for you, then call NitV-BBS (+1-505-246- 8515) [new node number to be announced in October] or Jungle BBS (+1-505-275- 2339) 1:301/36 and download BIGBRO?.ZIP (there are 4 of them at this writing.) In conjunction with the file EFF8-30.ZIP, also available from NitV), you'll find well over a megabyte of information, debate, commentary, analysis, reports, articles and more, from both sides of the Clipper debate, in addition to sample letters to send to your "representatives", hints on how to use the media, info on the Electronic Frontier Foundation and related civil rights organizations you should belong to or support in any way you can, and lots more besides. You can FREQ these files from NitV (1:302/2, 369:101/1) as BIGBRO.ZIP, BIGBRO2.ZIP, BIGBRO3.ZIP, BIGBRO4.ZIP (or get them all at once with the "magicname" BIGBRO. EFF8-30.ZIP must be FREQed separately). If you do not wish to login FidoNews 10-38 Page: 19 20 Sep 1993 with your real name, you may login as ANONYMOUS, password GUEST. You may also be interested in the UNcrippled cryptography applications available at NitV. Due to our favourite US export restrictions, crypto files are unfortunately available only to US and Canadian nodes. THE TIME IS *NOW*. Are you scared? You should be. If you are not, read this again, and get those files, and read them until you understand. Then you will be. Maybe that's what it takes. And it will be worth it. ANYTHING will be worth demonstrating to our supposed masters that the American people will NOT tolerate a regime of bureacrats that think they are above the law and can act as judge, jury and executioner rolled into one. DISCLAIMER: At this time I speak ONLY for myself, and my statements do NOT represent the Electronic Frontier Foundation or any other organization. Area Netmail, Msg#244, Sep-17-93 23:41:50 From: Stanton McCandlish (1:301/2) To: Editor (1:1/23) Subject: article "CORRECTION, re: Clipper article" Stanton McCandlish, 1:301/2 (until Sept. 23), mech@eff.org I'd like to correct an error in my article concerning the govt's "Clipper" scheme. The telco document of importance in the Steve Jackson Games case was valued at over $80,000, not over $100,000. Sorry about that. This error was pointed out by Bill Verant at 1:317/50. Also, an update on the very recent news of the Customs subpoenas clarifies that it was not simply individuals that are being hassled by the Treasury, but entire, legitimate, companies. EFF has issued a public statement in defense of those who have been subpoena'd, stating that they have done precisely NOTHING that is illegal. In the personal opinion of this writer, the actions on the part of Customs/Treasury can be viewed as nothing but outright harrassment. Don't stand for it. FidoNews 10-38 Page: 20 20 Sep 1993 "ZIP Archivers Update" Stanton McCandlish, NitV DataCenter, 1:301/2 until Oct. Those of you wishing to get the latest ZIP format archivers from my system, please hold off for a while. I've been offered a job in DC, and will be moving out there within the month. My system will be back online with a new node number ASAP, and I will post a list of the latest ZIPers when they are available again. Some of these will include versions for VMS, VAX, and AIX, plus updates of the Amiga versions, and some other goodies, including some source code for various platforms. If Fido won't officially adopt ZIP as the new standard for archiving/compression, lets simply make ZIP a defacto standard. Where practicality and policy meet, practicality wins. Hands down. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Joy of FidoNet! By: Eric Jones (1:3623/12) I've always read in FidoNews, and on the various conferences on FidoNet, that the *Cs were "real jerks." Until just last week, I had no intentions of EVER joining FidoNet or a FTN Network. I run VBBS (I know, it's not a 'FidoNet' BBS), and so far had been content to stick with VirtualNET. But I figured, since VBBS features multi-net capabilities (VNET, Fido, WWIV, UUCP), I'd use them, and join the local FidoNet here in Daytona (Net 3623). Well, I downloaded the info on DaytonaNet, and filled out the info required. I set up my software to toss Fido-style messages and netmailed my node request to the NC. When I joined VNET, it took 2 weeks to get a node number, and after 2 months, I couldn't receive certain types of messages, because of a mess up in the VBBS nodelist upline from me. Well, about 30 seconds or so after netmailing Brian Elia (our NC), I received a phone call from him, telling me that my request had been received, and that he had a node number ready for me. I set up the info I got from Brian, and later that night, was receiving echomail from his bbs. I guess not everything one reads is true, or if it is, it is not widespread. I'm happy with FidoNet, and don't think I'll ever give it up. This article was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I had no intention of writing to FidoNews when I joined (even though I read every FNEWS). I just figured this was the kind of thing that should be told to everyone, and I think our NC should be recognized for his great work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Replies to FidoNews 10-36 By: Eric Jones (1:3623/12) FidoNews 10-38 Page: 21 20 Sep 1993 This is basically some replies to things from FidoNews 10-36. And yes, I know that FidoNews 10-37 has come and gone, (I got both 10-36 and 10-37 at the same time from ftp.ieee.org, today 9/13). Well, here they are, hope they are good enough for you! :) Nodelist Flags: Isn't the nodelist hard enough to use as it is? I have a 2-something megabyte file sitting in my netmail directory mainly wasting space. And no, I haven't been able to take out the irrelevant sections, because QEdit won't load it all. More flags just mean more disk space, because, in case you haven't noticed, a lot of the flags already in use are not needed for certain entries, and they are just overkill on the part of the person who added them to the entry in the first place. Compression Utility for Fido Telling people what they NEED to use may not necessarily be what they WANT to use. Take me for example. My archiver of choice happens to be ARJ (not for speed or compression, just because I like the features). So what if you can get a ZIP utility for every computer made? Maybe there is a sysop out there who has a 1.2GB hard drive who has been on FidoNet since the beginning, and who is a die-hard ARC fan. Do you really think you are going to force him to use ZIP just because it is the official archiver? NOPE! He'll just find someone who will ARC the file for him before it is sent. He has the drive space to waste, and he probably has a 14.4+ modem too, so the extra few bytes aren't going to raise his phone bill much. Democracy and XAB and PCs Democracy? On Fido? From what I have seen in the last two years or so of being a user on FidoNet boards, I have yet to see democracy. It will always be the person higher up on the ladder who has the final say. Just look at the US government (or any other government). An example would be something like: a state makes a law that someone doesn't like, so they take it to a higher court trying to get it overturned, who in turn goes up, until they get to the highest court in the land, who strikes down the law. Until all, and I do mean all, of the sysops in FidoNet take a stand and change POLICY4, nothing is going to happen. From what I understand, this is an AMATEUR/HOBBYIST NETWORK, and if it weren't for all of us 'lowly' sysops, there would be no FidoNet. It's people like us who made this net what it is, and no one person (ZC, RC, NC) can take credit for that. It was a collective endeavour over many years, and many many man-hours of people trying to enjoy THEIR hobby. When you take away their rights, you create anarchy. Also about this XAB thing, it's really annoying! :) All I see is: He's annoying! She's annoying! NC, I think this is Annoying behavior! Do something about it, or we'll replace you with someone who will! Define Annoying Behavior. Everyone is annoying sometime during their lives. It's human nature. Excommunicating a node just because somebody 'in power' doesn't like people who deviate from their norms is taking someone's hobby and throwing it out of the window. On other networks, I have seen people say "I decided to use this software, because blah-blah-blah is Fido-compatible software, and I hate Fido because of their stupid rules about XAB, so I got this program to run this net, where people don't mind annoying FidoNews 10-38 Page: 22 20 Sep 1993 people." And finally, the thing about Policy Complaints. Policy 4 sucks! Yes, you heard it from me! Flame me, I wanna hear your dumb replies :>. I can't understand a word of it. It looks like it was written by lawyers and law-makers. Gimme a break, why the hell do we need 'Congress' to make rules for a bunch of people enjoying the use of their computers. Make it easy, and people will obey it. Make it hard to decypher, people will ignore it. Ok, I'll quit my verbal diarrhea now. Just wanted to get this off my mind, and maybe I'll go away for a while and leave everyone alone. (But I doubt it). Direct all flames to the address listed at the beginning of the article. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (The Innocents) By: Scott Bernard 1:107/653 Have you ever, while writing a game, come across some problem you couldn't solve? You probably went posted a little something about your problem in a Programming Echo, like C_ECHO, or 80XXX, but reponses either had nothing really in particular to do with what you asked, or the Moderator told you that your question was Off-Topic, and to correspond through Netmail. Thats fine and all, but you doubt she/he'd let you get away with it a second time. Its obvious an Echo is needed specifically for the writing of Games. The topic just needs to be addressed. There's nowhere you can really goto to get help on programming project of this sort. More or less, cause is more than just programming. Its more Problem Solving. Figuring out how to get what you want out of the PC. Sure this is true for almost every sort of programming project, but Game writting is more demanding than most projects. You need to know about graphics, about low-level hardware interaction, about simulations, etc. An Echo full of this stuff would be a real asset to any programmer. So, obviously, one has to be established. I've been trying for a few weeks now to get this echo started. If you think this Echo is what you or your users need, then please, Netmail me at 1:107/653. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== FidoNews 10-38 Page: 23 20 Sep 1993 ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tom Jennings IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been changed!!! Please make a note of this. "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Don & Sylvia (submission address) editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience) FidoNews 172 Duke St. E. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 1A7 Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is copyright 1993 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding FidoNet, please direct them to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.) FidoNews 10-38 Page: 24 20 Sep 1993 SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------